openpolitics.com

Becoming Europe

If American liberals want the continent’s solutions, they ought to also recognize its problems.

These policies achieved something remarkable, a terrific leap for working women. But they brought surprising downside risks

.. European women are more likely to work. But they are less likely to have advanced careers or hold management positions than American women.

.. But women also spend more weeks away from the office. When they return, they’re less likely to be promoted, having been out for so long.

.. New research summarized by economists at the OECD suggests that “when income inequality rises, economic growth falls” in large part because the poor are less likely to get an education and a productive job.

.. Taxing the rich to redistribute money to the poor (particularly to poor kids) seems to improve overall growth. The big alliterative tradeoff, perhaps, isn’t between efficiency and equality but rather between greed in the short term and growth in the long term.